Missing Pages
by thejeweloftherealm
Summary: A collection of Captain Swan one-shots based on prompts from Tumblr. (Was previously just 'Falsities, but I'm going to add more one-shots)
1. Falsities

**Prompt: "I have to tell you something. I'm not who you think I am." - Lieutenant Duckling**

* * *

 **Falsities**

"I have to tell you something. I'm not who you think I am."

Emma blinks in confusion. Killian is looking at her with wide, earnest eyes, his bicorne hat held in front of his chest, his grip on it tight enough to turn his knuckles white, and those words were the _last_ things she had expected to hear from him.

Considering that he'd shown up outside her bedroom far later than was proper, she had expected something slightly more illicit and exciting.

"Then who are you?" She asks, folding her arms across her chest and unable to muster even a small smile when his gaze, only for a moment, drops to the swell of her breasts.

Until now, their courtship has been very formal - he would have had it no other way - and she enjoys how flustered her night clothes appear to be making him.

Or maybe he's just nervous about whatever truth he's apparently been keeping from her.

"I'm not the captain of the Jewel of the Realm." He admits, twisting his hat in his grip and clearly unsure where to look. He can't meet her eyes, but he also refuses to look anywhere that might be considered inappropriate, and he eventually ends up fixing the room behind her with a look of utter contrition.

"You're not?"

He bites his lip and lets go of his hat with one hand so he can scratch awkwardly behind his ear. "No." He confirms, and Emma gapes at him. Then he swallows, and seems to realise that there is far more to be explained, stumbling over words as he continues to speak. "My brother is. I mean, I still work aboard the vessel but I'm nowhere near the position I led you to believe I was."

"What are you then?"

"A Lieutenant."

Perhaps she should be more concerned, but she knows that what she feels for Killian is nothing to do with his station, and what bothers her more is that he seems to think it matters. "Why did you say otherwise?"

"I wanted you to believe I was worthy of your hand, that my stature was high enough to be considered as someone you could deign to marry." He admits, and she shakes her head in exasperation. "Marrying you has long been my dream, ever since I met you. But now that you have agreed to be with me, I felt you should be aware of all the falsities I told you. Even if it means that our marriage can never be."

She takes a deep breath and then reaches out to take his hat from him, throwing it over her shoulder and into her bedroom, smiling mischievously when he squeaks in surprise. "Did you lie about anything else?" He shakes his head and she beams at him, reaching forward to rest her hand against his heart, her smile widening when she feels his heart beating furiously. "Did you mean it when you said you loved me?"

He exhales in surprise, his eyes even wider and he grabs at her hand, both of his cradling her hand to his chest, his thumb brushing across the thin golden ring he had given her only hours before. "My heart beats for you, Princess." He breathes, painfully sincere, and, as always happens when he speaks so honestly, her eyelashes flutter and her breath hitches and she remembers just how much she loves him. "Don't ever doubt that."

"And mine for you." She replies, leaning close to brush her lips to his and disregarding the way his breath quickens and his eyes fall closed. He always reacts the same way when she's daring enough to kiss him. "Don't worry. I think I'll marry you anyway."

He laughs breathily, brilliantly, and then she curls her fingers around the stiff collar of his uniform and tugs him close, into her bedroom. He's already made it past her guards, wanting her to know the truth, and she feels they should take advantage of their solitude.

And when she kisses him again, his fingers knotting clumsily in the silk of her nightgown, Emma's pretty sure that whatever worries he had are all forgotten.


	2. The Persistent Litter Bug

**Prompt: Captain Swan + 'Cop and Someone in Frequent Trouble With The Law'. (Written with _BlackDragon733_ )**

* * *

 **The Persistent Litter Bug**

It's the fifth time she's been taken to the sheriff station for _littering,_ of all things, and she still hasn't managed to catch Sheriff Graham's attention. Instead, she's been sent to the same deputy, the one who seems permanently stuck doing paperwork, and _once again_ , he's just inhaled the pins he keeps in a mug beside him instead of drinking his coffee.

At least this time, he doesn't need her to perform the Heimlich maneuver.

He coughs and splutters and then tries to act cool, as though he _intended_ to perform such a stunt, which Emma has to admit she finds slightly endearing.

"Another littering fine, lass?" He asks, tapping out her name and details without even asking for them because apparently five trips to the station is enough for him to remember the answers she's given each time. "I might start to think you're trying to get my attention."

"Sorry but no." Emma tells him with an apologetic shrug, knocking his hand away as he reaches for the wrong mug yet again. "And you need to figure out a new storage system, because this is just going to end with you dying."

"Thanks, Swan." He says sheepishly, and with her hand still hovering warningly over the mug full of pins, he manages to pick up the correct mug and take a long drink from it. "It's lucky I have you watching over me."

"I'm not here that often." She points out, but he raises an eyebrow and okay, maybe in her quest to talk to Graham, she's been here slightly more often than the average civilian, but not enough for the handsome, _bumbling_ , deputy to say that. "And you should really get someone who's always at the station to keep an eye on you. You're a disaster waiting to happen, Jones."

"But you're far better company." He states with a wink, which Emma only just sees as she peers into her bag and starts rifling through it for the crumpled notes she plans to use to pay the fine. "And that's a fine of-"

"I know." She says with a laugh, pressing the wrinkled money into his hand. "This isn't the first time, remember?"

When she leaves, she picks up the mug full of pins and places it pointedly out of his reach. In return, he gives her a cheery wave and a wide smile and she thinks that, even though she didn't even get to see Graham this time, she's glad she got brought in.

-.-.-.-

The next time she finds herself at the Sheriff station, after spotting a deputy and very purposefully dropping an empty chocolate bar wrapper in front of him, she's once again handed over to Deputy Jones. His head's down and he's scribbling something, probably working on the paper work he's always so busy with.

It turns out he's doodling. He tries to hide it under actual paperwork when she takes the seat at his desk, but he's just a second too slow and she sees what could only just pass as a child's drawing of the sun, a few seagulls and a boat and it's cute and far too busy to be something he's only just started on.

He's turning red though, so she doesn't mention it. "How are you?" she asks instead, pulling her chair slightly closer and wincing as it squeaks along the floor. "It's been a few days."

"Still alive." He answers, and she laughs, resting her elbows on the pile of paperwork balancing precariously on the corner of his desk and leaning in so he's just a bit nearer. "How about you? Trying to keep up your reputation as Storybrooke's beautiful and persistent litter bug?"

"I think 'The Persistent Litter Bug' is the worst superhero name ever." She tells him, and he chuckles and he's looking at her far too fondly considering they only ever meet when she's been brought to the station after one of her foolish attempts to see Graham.

"I also called you beautiful." As if she needs reminding.

She blushes and looks away, and as she does, she actually catches sight of Graham. He's in his office talking to a tall, ridiculously beautiful woman. The woman gives Graham a paper bag, probably his lunch, and then a kiss goodbye.

For only a moment, Emma feels like a total idiot, except she doesn't get a chance to dwell on it because Deputy Jones is wheezing and coughing behind her and when she looks back, the mug of pins is upturned on the table, his coffee mug unmoved, and he's _done it again_.

Emma jumps from her chair and crosses the short distance to him, thumping him on the back with her fist a few times because he's breathing but still coughing and when he settles down again, throwing a quick betrayed glance to the mug, he beams up at her.

"My saviour." He says earnestly, and Emma swallows, leaning over his shoulder to pick up his mug and put the pins back. She ignores his shaky breathing and how he's looking at her, and leans even closer in an attempt to reach the sellotape he has hidden behind a skull-and-crossbones pencil holder.

When she finally reaches it, she uses it to cover the top of his mug because if the pins can't fall out of the mug when he tries to drink from it, he's probably not going to choke to death any time soon.

She stays stubbornly silent after that, and he seems deflated as he files the report and asks for her fine, and Emma _would_ talk to him if she wasn't preoccupied by the fact that she'd come to see Graham, discovered he most likely had a girlfriend, found out that she didn't particularly care _and_ worked out that she found Deputy Jones unbearably adorable. And attractive.

And far too many other things that were making her feel more anxious than she should feel in front of the man who kept drinking his pins.

She hands him the exact change and his fingers brush against hers. She panics, stumbles back and knocks his paperwork right off the edge of the desk, paper floating all around them, his doodle the only piece of paper left on the desk.

He scrambles for the picture instead of the files, folding it up and tucking inside his leather jacket, and Emma can't stop apologising even when he insists it's fine.

When she finally leaves, she feels so completely flustered and unsure that she decides she's never going back.

-.-.-.-

She acts like a good, upstanding citizen for a few weeks. She was only going to the station to see Graham, and that backfired horribly because now, instead of thinking about the good-looking man in uniform who strode around town and helped old ladies cross the street, she's _always_ thinking of the handsome man who spends his days sat behind a desk drawing bad pictures of boats and drinking metal pins instead of coffee.

When her long-time friend David and his wife meet her for coffee, David orders her the wrong thing. And the only thing that springs to mind is that she had met with Deputy Jones only five times, for barely ten minutes each time, when he remembered everything she'd told him.

And when she leaves the coffee shop, she takes with her an empty cardboard cup, finds a deputy and drops it purposely in front of him.

Deputy Jones brightens when he sees her, his eyes impossibly blue and his smile brilliant, and he stands from his chair until she's taken her usual seat in a surprising, _adorable_ display of chivalry.

The first thing she notices, after _him_ of course, is the mug of pins. The sellotape she'd placed over the top of it has been pierced and ripped so that he can access the pins, but there are still remnants stuck to the rim and it's been _three weeks_ and he hasn't taken them off yet and she really, really hopes that means something.

She takes the mug and cradles it in her hands, because if she's holding it, he's not going to drink from it. He notices and smiles impossibly wider, filling in the form on his computer and glancing frequently between the screen and her. Every time he looks at her, she grins and soon his smile is softening and there's a new, unfamiliar warmth in his eyes and Emma suddenly can't remember why she waited three weeks to return.

It turns out that holding a mug in her hands instinctively leads to her attempting to take a drink, and it's at the moment where Deputy Jones seems to gain confidence and sends her a shiver-inducing look that makes it very clear that, if nothing else, he _wants_ her, where she opens her mouth and takes a deep drink.

And then there are pins in her mouth and it's Emma who is spluttering and spitting out metal. Deputy Jones is laughing, but he's pulled her out her seat and his arms are strong around her waist even though she's not choking, the pins strewn across his desk.

"Alright there, Swan?" he asks when she's breathing normally again, but he doesn't let go, not until a shorter man in a bright red hat walks past and gives him a thumbs up. "It's easier to do than you'd think, isn't it?"

Emma forces a few notes into his hand and runs, because _maybe_ she got picked up for littering just to see him, but she's literally tried to drink pins in front of him and she's not sure that's something either of them will ever forget.

-.-.-.-

She remembers a couple of hours later that she's seen _him_ choking on pins more times than she ever should have and it's hardly put her off. And maybe, she should stop littering and paying fines when she could just walk to the station but it's become pretty ingrained in her that a visit to the station must be accompanied by some sort of crime.

So she buys a chocolate bar, a white mug and a sharpie, drops the empty chocolate bar wrapped on the ground in front of Sheriff Graham and then busies herself on the short ride back to the station by writing a quick message onto the plain mug.

"Twice in one day?" Deputy Jones asks when she takes a seat next to him and just grins at him. "Are you going for a record, love?"

"It's not a record I want." She flirts and he gapes at her for a moment. "I actually came here to give you something."

He frowns slightly, but bursts into laughter when she hands him the white mug, the words 'Don't drink from this' written on it in thick black capitals.

He thanks her with a few grateful words and a teasing nudge to her shoulder and then he pours the pins from his old mug into the one she just gave him and stares at it for a moment, putting it proudly in the centre of his desk as though it was a work of art or something.

And then he fills in the form and she pays the fine and before she leaves, one of his hands closes gently around her wrist and she turns to see him looking up at her from his chair. "If it isn't a record you want, Swan, how about dinner?"

Emma nods, Deputy Jones looks very pleased and then she walks away.

She realises just outside the station that they haven't exchanged numbers and Emma is _not_ going to miss out on a date with Deputy Jones just because they're both too nervous around each other to function properly.

The look on his face when she's brought in mere minutes after she left is enough to make everything worthwhile, but it hardly compares to the awe that crosses his face when he meets her at her door two days later, half an hour late because he got lost, and she kisses him in greeting.


	3. A Rare Sighting

**Prompt: Captain Swan + "Stuck In A Tree" (Written with _BlackDragon733_ )**

* * *

 **A Rare Sighting**

It turned out that living in England was not enough to dissuade Liam Jones from signing up to all the bird-watching mailing lists focused in Maine and sending his brother messages begging for a few pictures or more of whatever rare bird they were looking for that week.

Killian was choosing to blame the Magnolia Warbler for his forced trip to the park instead of his brother, but that didn't stop a few bitter thoughts aimed at Liam when Killian considered how he was meant to have been spending the day with David Nolan and his family as they prepared for some big family barbeque.

He still wasn't entirely sure how he'd managed to wrangle an invitation to that, as work colleague was nowhere near the same level as family, but David had been insistent.

But instead of marinating meat and drinking beer, he was wandering through the forest with a pair of binoculars around his neck and hoping desperately to find a bird that looked like the picture Liam had sent him at an ungodly hour that morning.

His mood was not helped by the branch that fell on his head.

"I am so sorry." Killian looked up at the apology, surprised to see a blonde woman perched on a high up branch and looking down at him with a wary, sheepish smile. "I didn't see you there. Trust me, if I had, you'd have been given a bit more warning."

"Is it too forward to say that you're much preferred to the bird I'm actually hunting for?" He asked, rubbing the top of his head in an attempt to sooth it, amused by how her expression immediately turned from nervous to unimpressed. "And probably far rarer too."

"Does it look like I'm in the mood for flirting?" She asked, shifting slightly on the branch and wincing again when some debris floated to the ground below her. "I've been here for freaking hours and I still have no idea how to get back down."

"Ah, so you're a damsel in distress?" He stated and the woman groaned loudly and threw a leaf at him. "Fear not, fair maiden, I'm sure I can bring you back to earth."

"No need." She threw another leaf down, and this one landed lightly in his hair. He made no move to get rid of it. "I've called my friend and he'll be here anytime now. So you can just keep on your way and find whatever bird it is you're looking for."

Killian considered leaving, but when he peered up at her again, she was fidgeting anxiously, her knuckles white as she gripped the tree branch. "You look rather uncomfortable, love. Are you certain you'd rather wait when I could help you down right now?"

"I'm not _uncomfortable_." She spat, but Killian was already scanning the tree for any possible path back down. "It's just a bit precarious up here."

"Just give me a moment." He said, deciding that his best course of action was to climb the tree himself so that the two of them could follow the same path down.

"What the hell are you doing?" she asked as he shucked the binoculars and then began to clamber up towards her. "I can't see how this is at all helpful?"

Killian laughed, realising now that he was climbing up towards her that the woman was sitting even higher than he had thought. "I'm plotting a course for us, darling."

He didn't look up at her again until he was sat beside her, his legs dangling down and the ground suddenly far further away from him than he had appreciated. She'd watched him climb the whole way up, her eyebrow raised and all of a sudden he was struck with the fact that she'd clearly figured out long ago that he too had no idea how to return to solid ground.

"I appears I failed to see how this rescue mission of mine could go astray." He admitted, and she giggled. "Now, my dear, we are both damsels in distress. I do hope some handsome knight will appear to save us from our terrible fate."

Wanting to ensure that he would indeed manage to get down eventually, he sent a brief text to David and just hoped it would be enough to get his friend down to the woods in search of him. He'd probably hear no end of the teasing at the barbeque that evening though, but he'd take teasing over starving to death at the top of a tree.

"You're an idiot." She mumbled, falling silent for a second or two before she carefully offering him her hand, which he took eagerly even if it meant he had to hold on to the branch even tighter with his other hand. "I'm Emma."

"Killian." He replied, their hands springing apart so they could each adjust their balance on the thin branch. "What bring you up this tree on such a fine day?"

She held his gaze for what felt like too long, a grin spreading across his face when she finally rolled her eyes and sent him an amused, albeit slightly exhausted, smile. "Some stupid kid. He lost his frisbee up here and he was the cutest kid I've ever seen so I couldn't say no when he asked for help, but then the second I tossed it down, he ran off and I've been stuck here ever since. My lunch is still waiting for me at the picnic bench just a few yards back down the footpath."

He let go of the branch for a few minutes to unceremoniously toss her the slightly melted chocolate bar he had in his pocket, "My rescue mission may have been a disaster but I don't want you to think I'm the sort of man who would let a beautiful woman go hungry."

"Yeah, yeah." Emma muttered, tearing open the bar without a thank you and then taking a bite, her eyes closing as a look of total delight spread across her face. And he couldn't look away. "So what bird are you looking for? Or was that just a totally horrendous pick-up line?"

"I like to think I'm not the sort of person who takes binoculars with him when he's searching for a woman." Killian admitted and she actually giggled again. "I truly was out bird-watching. My brother back in England seems to think he'll become the envy of his friends if I send him pictures of birds he'd never find back there. And unfortunately, I can't deny my brother anything. Not that I'm regretting this outing now. As I said, you're a much better find than this Magnolia Warbler."

"Would your brother agree?" Emma asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Most certainly." Killian told her, and she shook her head at him. "However, I find it unlikely that you want your face shown alongside pictures of birds as he bores his physics students to tears with a presentation on his latest sightings."

"God, that sounds terrible." Emma said through a laugh, and Killian nodded his agreement. "I mean the bird slides, but my picture being in one of them would be pretty bad too."

He chuckled. The two of them, for another half an hour, they just chatted. They didn't talk about anything particularly personal, the conversation remaining easy and light and full of laughter, but their time together flew by and despite the quiet, nagging worry that he'd tip a bit too far backwards as he laughed and would fall to his death, he was having the best afternoon he'd had in years.

"Emma? Are you up there?" Killian frowned at Emma when he heard the voice, when he heard _David_. "Because this can't take too long as I have another friend stuck in another tree and I should probably get to him soon."

"Dave?" Killian called down, still unable to see David and assuming he was wandering nearby. "Is that you?"

"Killian?" David yelled back, and they heard heavy footsteps as he ran towards Killian's voice. "Have I gone to the wrong tree? Emma messaged me hours ago and she'll be furious if I get you down first."

" _You_ know David?" Emma whispered suddenly, her eyebrows high on her forehead even as she tilted her head to look down at the ground. "How do we _both_ know David?"

"You're in the _same_ tree?" David sounded incredulous after hearing Emma's voice, as well as far too amused, and if he hadn't been certain about it before, it was clear that David would not be shutting up about this for a very long time.

"Well, I work with him at the animal shelter but I don't know about you." Killian said, waving happily down at David when he finally came into a view below them, a large ladder held under his arm, and then toppling forward slightly. Emma grabbed at him, her grip tight on his sleeve and keeping him from falling. "He looks after the dogs and I have a fondness for the cats."

"I'm his sister." Emma stated, watching as David started to try and find a place to rest the ladder. "He's never mentioned _you_ before."

"Or you." Killian said, leaning back to let Emma crawl over him so she could climb down first. "Clearly, we are both very underappreciated."

"I can hear you both." David called up, and when he rolled his eyes, Killian could definitely see the family resemblance. "Now get down here. Mary-Margaret will kill all three of us if we're late to the barbeque. After she's killed the two of you for getting trapped in a tree in the first place, you morons."

Killian followed Emma down the ladder, sighing in relief when he finally felt firm ground on his feet, Emma appearing to do the same. He picked up his binoculars and then turned an inquisitive look to the siblings. "We'll both be at the barbeque?"

"Looks like it." Emma told him, already leading him and David down the path towards where Killian assumed she had left her lunch. "I'm relieved actually."

"Didn't want to say goodbye to me yet?" Killian asked, and David huffed beside him. "I assure you the feeling's mutual."

"No. I'd just rather not suffer the humiliation alone."

And Liam was bound to be disappointed when Killian told him that he hadn't even really looked for the Magnolia Warbler, but when they skyped a couple of weeks later, Liam could hardly complain when Killian told him he'd managed to find something far more valuable.


	4. Forever

**Prompt: Killian _drunk proposing to Emma and her posting on social media, but neither of them remembers the next day and everyone is congratulating them, and Mary-Margaret's already planning the wedding._ (Written with _BlackDragon733_ )**

* * *

 **Forever**

When Emma wakes, it's far too bright. Her head is pounding, her memory of the night before completely missing, and the last thing she wants to do is get out of bed. The only thing about the morning that _doesn't_ suck is the fact that she's in Killian's warm embrace and he's snoring lightly in her ear.

And from the way she can feel a spring digging into her side, she doesn't need to open her eyes to see that, for whatever mysterious reason, they're at Granny's and not pressed together in his narrow bed on the Jolly Roger, the way they usually are when they wake together.

But at least being at Granny's means she can wander downstairs and get a hot cocoa without a ten minute walk first.

She wriggles out of Killian's embrace, kissing him a good morning even though he isn't awake yet and he mumbles sleepily and rolls into the space she's just left. Every singlemovement makes her head ache, and as much of an advantage as it is to be able to walk downstairs to hot cocoa and a greasy breakfast, it's not much fun to be picking up yesterday's clothes from the floor instead of grabbing a fresh outfit from her drawer on the ship.

When she's downstairs, hot cocoa in her hand, she tries to piece together what happened the night before. She _knows_ that she and Killian had decided to celebrate one year together without any unwanted separations with a private candlelit meal, and she _vaguely_ remembers finishing a bottle of wine and his flask of rum and deciding that a trip to The Rabbit Hole was in order but after that, there's nothing.

Well, she's rather certain about a few things she and Killian decided to do, but that's because of the familiar pleasant aches she feels throughout her body and nothing to do with a memory.

She digs her phone out of her bag, wondering if there are any answers on there but all she finds are more questions. She has dozens of messages, from almost everyone she knows, from Ruby, Dr Whale, Leroy, Will Scarlet and even Regina, and although most of them seem a bit confused and unsure about why she messaged them of all people, they're all saying something along the lines of 'congratulations'.

Regina's message is the strangest, saying that she's not surprised but she supposes a congratulations is in order and she'll leave it to Emma to tell Henry the news but she imagines that Emma and Hook will be wanting to sleep in.

If Ruby isn't off work, she'll ask for an explanation, but the waitress is nowhere in sight.

Killian stumbles into the seat beside her, and she tilts her head towards him in a silent request for another, slightly more awake, kiss good morning. He acquiesces and then, the moment he settles beside her, he slumps against her, his cheek resting against her head, and he clearly feels as awful as she does.

"Do you have an explanation for the voice mail your father left me?" He asks, his voice scratchy and his lips brushing against her forehead with every word. "Because any possible explanation has completely escaped me."

"Well, what did he say?" Emma asks, certain that, whatever it is, probably has something to do with the multitude of text messages she's received through the night. "Anything that might explain his message?"

"I couldn't make out a word, love." He tells her, reaching over her shoulder to pinch a piece of bacon from her plate. "I'm pretty certain he was crying."

He plays her the message at her request and he's entirely right. It's impossible to hear anything her father is saying through his sobs, but he doesn't sound _sad_. And that makes even less sense. She shows Killian the messages she's got instead and they decide that _something_ has happened the night before, something that has led to dozens of messages and a crying David, but they're at a loss to what it could be.

Her mother arrives then, bustling through the door with Neal balanced on her hip and when she sees Emma and Killian cuddled together in the back booth, she beams over at them and pushes past the morning crowd to reach the two of them, sliding onto the bench opposite them and looking at them expectantly.

Neal is babbling nonsense in the corner of the booth, but Mary-Margaret seems a bit preoccupied by just _grinning_ at the two of them and that is more disconcerting than anything else that has confused Emma that morning.

"I think you should have a white and red colour scheme and invite the entire kingdom." Mary-Margaret says suddenly, clapping her hands together enthusiastically and Emma was wrong. She could apparently be _even more_ disconcerted. "The entire of Storybrooke even."

"Invite them to what?" Emma asks warily, batting Killian's hand away as he reaches for the last strip of her bacon, although he snatches it anyway when he distracts her with another kiss to the temple. "And why would we invite the whole town to anything? That's just asking for disaster."

"Well, to your _wedding_ of course!" Mary-Margaret squeals and Emma just blinks at her, because that was the last answer Emma was expecting. She glances over at Killian, but he looks just as dumbstruck as Emma feels. "Because you're getting _married!_ "

And then Mary-Margaret holds her phone out to Emma and dread sweeps through Emma when she sees the photo message that she's suddenly certain has been sent to every single person in her contacts. She gapes at it. It's herself and Killian kissing sloppily, _drunkenly_. Even if Killian wasn't obviously holding the phone, she can tell it's his handiwork because of the finger blocking out the bottom third of the picture, but even that's not enough to block the image of Emma's hand held out towards the camera, some sort of silver band on her finger.

Emma already knows what she goes to read before she glances at the accompanying text message.

 **Wur gtting maried!**

Emma looks from the phone to Mary-Margaret in horror and then just blinks at her mother. "I'm sorry, but did you honestly think that message came from anyone sober?"

Mary-Margaret visibly deflates and Emma has a horrible moment of realisation that this is the same message she most likely sent to her father, and to _Dr Whale_ , and then she has an even worse thought. The picture is probably on _Henry's_ phone, just waiting for him to wake up and see it. Emma groans and falls towards Killian, burying her head in his shoulder and he's actually shaking with laughter.

He clearly hasn't realised the disaster this actually is. _Leroy_ got the message. The entire town will know within the next half hour, if they don't already.

"So, you're _not_ getting married?" Mary-Margaret asks in a whisper, as though she doesn't want to know the answer.

Emma peers up from Killian's shoulder to look sheepishly at her mother and then glances down at her hands. There's no ring, so whatever drunken impulse had led to that message had clearly not lasted the evening, and Emma waves her bare fingers at her mother. "No. Not now. Not ever."

"Not _ever_." Mary-Margaret repeats, and Emma is suddenly scared that not only is she going to have deal with whatever break down her father had when he got the drunken announcement and decided to call Killian and _cry_ , but she's going to have to try and prevent the one her mother is on the verge of. "What do you _mean_? We were going to have a _feast_ and you'd be married in a ballroom with an _orchestra_ and _dancing_ and you'd wear a white dress with feathers and pearls and look so, _so_ beautiful and you're saying you're not getting married _ever_?"

"That sounds horrendous." Emma grumbles. "Besides, I already know Killian and I are forever so I don't need marriage and we definitely don't need any celebration that's as horrible as that one sounds."

"But what about Killian?" Mary-Margaret asks, as though he isn't sitting right beside Emma and gaping at her as if she's just made his world a million times brighter.

And when he looks at her like that, Emma _has_ to smile at him. He kisses her then, as soon as the smile curves her lips, and she doesn't even _care_ that her mother is sitting just opposite them. Then again, when Killian kisses her, there's not much else that feels more important.

Leroy screaming out the news that the pirate and princess are getting hitched _is_ enough to make her pull away, although not very far, their foreheads still pressed together.

"It's going to be hell sorting out all the rumours." she whispers, and he chuckles quietly.

"It's hardly the worst we've faced, Swan." He answers, capturing her lips in another quick kiss that actually sends a cheer through the diner and it's really going to be the worst thing getting this cleared up but she doesn't care. "And we've got forever to fix it."


	5. 100 Books to Read Before You Die

**Prompt: Captain Swan + Librarian/Reader AU**

* * *

 **100 Books to Read Before You Die**

Emma finds being a librarian to be dull work, but she needs the job. She only moved to Storybrooke a couple of months earlier, to be near her foster brother and his family, and the only requirement she had for any job was that it paid enough for her to pay the bills and allowed her to be flexible and change shifts with little warning. Luckily, the manager of the library, Belle, understands that Emma has a two-year old at home and despite being one of the only babysitters in Storybrooke, Ruby Lucas is surprisingly unreliable.

So yeah, if asked, Emma might even say she likes her job.

Besides, Storybrooke library is quiet and has a very good children's section, and Emma likes the opportunity to scour the shelves for books to read to Henry. He loves 'The Very Hungry Caterpillar', the first book she brought him back when she found the job, but Emma wants to read him lots of different books because now, here, she can finally do that.

She's been a librarian for a few weeks when Killian Jones first visits. Not that he tells her his name, but it's on the ID he gives her when she signs him up for a library card. He borrows Lord of the Rings and tells her that his brother sent him an article about a hundred novels to read before you die.

He leaves and she daydreams about his voice for the rest of her shift.

The next time he shows up - a week later and with the book looking slightly dog-eared - she asks him if he's dying as she takes the book and drops it in the crate with the other returned books.

"Uh, no." He answers, frowning at her, and Emma feels like kicking herself because _what if he was_? "I just thought I'd set myself a challenge. I used to read a lot, back in England, but it's been a while."

Killian smiles at her, and then he glances from her to the open book she has in front of her ('Hairy McClary from Donaldson's Dairy') and she just blushes. Here he is, handing back 'Lord of the Rings' after reading the whole thing in a _week_ , and she's looking at pictures of a small dog.

It's for Henry, but he doesn't know that.

He borrows 'To Kill A Mockingbird' and he leaves her with a wave and a wink.

Killian returns at least once a week. There's been no one she's been so attracted to since Neal, she thinks she's possibly _more_ attracted to Killian. Except he may be cute, but the books he reads look pretty daunting - Emma's not much of a reader - and they are the only things they discuss. His standard question seems to be if she's seen the movie and she wonders if her disinterest in literature is that obvious, but that doesn't stop him from him trying to start a conversation.

Emma steers their discussions away from books. Soon, it becomes habit for him to lean against the counter as they talk about whatever springs to mind. She learns that his brother is an English teacher back in London, he learns about Henry (and recommends a book called 'Where the Wild Things Are', which she reads to Henry later that week and then, when she thanks him for recommending it because Henry has finally moved on from 'The Very Hungry Caterpillar', he smiles at her and her heart beats far too fast).

It's been almost a year when he comes in one week, this time to return 'The Cairo Trilogy', and tells her he's finally read 'The Very Hungry Caterpillar' and engages her in a very silly, in-depth discussion about it and Emma beams at him. She leans closer, lets their fingers brush together, just for a second, and his blue gaze darts up to her.

She corners him behind a stall when he's finally started searching for the next book on his list, and she kisses him.

When he leaves, a copy of 'The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde' tucked under his arm, Emma finds another copy and borrows it as well. She's a slow reader, but it's not too long, and with a bit less sleep than usual, she manages to get it finished within three days.

He takes her hand in his when she starts to talk about with him, admitting honestly that it was alright, but Emma hasn't really enjoyed a book since she read Harry Potter so many years before. Killian tells her he's never read it. That he'd tried but found it difficult to get into the first book. Emma understands because she thinks that, for the people who didn't start reading the series when they were younger and then grew _with_ the books, it's trickier to get into.

This time, although she doesn't find him and kiss him, he kisses her cheek in goodbye once he's borrowed 'Gulliver's Travels' and gives her a small, nervous smile. He stops just before leaving, pausing in the exit and turning to look at her.

"If I asked you out, Emma, what would you say?"

She blinks at him. "I'd say yes." She stammers, surprised by the question but suddenly feeling so, _so_ happy. "Just give me the details far enough in advance so I can find a babysitter."

He nods, but doesn't say anything more and Emma stares after him because _why_ didn't he ask her out?

Emma takes Gulliver's Travels home with her but she doesn't get a chance to read it because Henry gets sick. She spends days at home with her son, reading him 'Where the Wild Things Are' over and over again.

Killian looks surprisingly nervous when she finally sees him again. "Is everything alright?"

"It's fine. Henry wasn't well, so I took time off." She answers and he visibly relaxes. "How are you?"

"I have to admit that part of me wondered if you'd only said yes to my question last time we spoke to be polite." He mumbles. "I… well, I read the first Harry Potter book. It's not on my list, but I thought that it was worth taking a break from the hundred novels to finally read _your_ favourite book. Although, I now fear my challenge will be delayed for a few more weeks as I read the other Harry Potter books."

"You liked it, then?" she asks, moving from her seat behind the counter to join him on the other side. She rests her hip against the counter and lets her fingers run lightly up and down his forearm as they talk. "And you _really_ want to read Chamber of Secrets?"

He nods and that's it for Emma. She can't wait anymore (and she's been waiting, although until now she hasn't realised it).

"We should have dinner." She says suddenly, laughing at the way his eyes widen. "Whenever you're free."

Killians grin widens and he nods enthusiastically. "I'd say tonight but I know you need someone to look after Henry, so tomorrow?"

And Emma nods and then her heart pounds and she can't stop smiling because they're having _dinner_. They're not exchanging small talk over the library counter, they're having a _date_.

He leaves the library with 'Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets', kiss-bruised lips, clothes askew (because, _maybe_ , when Emma found him behind the stalls this time, neither of them had exercised any self-control) and her number.


	6. Real

**Prompt: Emma is homeless and knows that engaged couples get free food at tastings, so she decides to cajole another homeless guy, Killian, into pretending they're engaged.**

* * *

 **Real**

Emma had never made it to her own cake-tasting.

Walsh had screwed her over long before that, leaving with only her Bug and her engagement ring. The only reason she hasn't sold the ring is because she's terrified that when she does, she'll find out it's worthless, that it's just as fake as every other part of their relationship was and he really has left her with absolutely nothing.

And now, even months after he left her, she dwells on how she should have _known_. She should have trusted herself instead of trusting him, believed the nagging feeling that he was always lying, but she wanted to feel like she had finally escaped from the life where she had no one.

After Neal, after Phoenix and her _baby_ , she had needed to get away from that.

Emma's still trying to resign herself to the fact that she is right back where she started and maybe she was just never meant to have anything more.

-.-.-.-

She passes the bakery one day. She remembers going inside, when she was still excited that her and Walsh were going to be _married_ and that even though he insisted on taking care of everything else, he was letting her decide on the cake.

Emma had looked through dozens of catalogues and come up with a vague idea of what she wanted before signing her and Walsh up for a free tasting in a couple of weeks.

And that had felt like _everything_ because a decade earlier, she had had nothing. Food had been rare and a day with three meals had been a miracle.

Standing in a bakery and knowing that in two weeks she would have access to more cake than she could eat and that a few months later she'd never be alone again, everything finally felt real and tangible and she'd needed to take a moment to just breath.

Now she stands on the outside and remembers and tries to ignore how her stomach is rumbling and she hasn't eaten since the night before and she just _wants_.

And then she thinks that maybe once, if she can find someone willing to help, she can go in there and eat loads of cake and pretend that she's about to marry someone she loves and that she's actually excited about the future.

She knows, no matter who she chooses, that it's going to be fake but Emma's never had anything real anyway.

-.-.-.-

She writes the thought off as just a daydream. Emma doesn't know anyone very well, let alone well enough to propose such a con. And even though it would be one afternoon together, they have to knew each other enough to be convincingly in love.

So yeah, her afternoon at a cake-tasting is a daydream and nothing more and she may entertain the thought sometimes but she has far more to worry about.

Like where that days meal is coming from.

And she pretends she doesn't know who she would ask to help, except she _does_.

Since everything fell apart, she's only really spoken to one person with more than curt sentences and sharp words and that person is Killian Jones.

Not that she knows him that well. She'd met him a few months ago, back when the night air was bitingly cold, and he was curled up outside with only a shop awning for shelter. Emma had been miserable, loneliness gnawing at her and she knew it was ill-advised, but she'd parked the bug nearby and told him that, if he wanted, he could share the warmth of the car with her.

If everything had gone wrong, she didn't really have anything to lose.

But they'd sat in the front seats with the car heater blasting and they'd talked for hours. Introductions first, of course, but then it had gotten more personal. Killian is the only one who knows the basics of what happened to her, how her so-called fiancé had conned her out of everything, and Emma feels pretty confident in the knowledge that she's the only one _he's_ told about how an accident in the navy had left him without a brother and without a hand and then medical bills had taken everything else.

-.-.-.-

She's not _looking_ for him, but she's relieved when she spots him at the soup kitchen. She always worries about him on cold nights, when she's not there to let him share the warmth of her car, and whenever she sees him, her chest feels lighter and she smiles more than she ever does otherwise (she has little reason to smile).

When she sits beside him, he grins at her and he looks so much better when he doesn't look miserable.

"Been a while, Swan." He says through a mouthful of food, clearly as starved as her. "I was wondering if you'd moved to somewhere closer to the sea."

"Not yet." Emma replies. "I still have a few good memories I'm not ready to leave behind."

"They weren't real." He says that as if they've talked often. Like it wasn't just one conversation they shared in the warmth of her car months before. "What reason do you really have to stay?"

Emma shrugs. She can't really think of anything. But then the bakery comes to mind and he's right there so she tells him. "There's a bakery that does free cake-tasting for engaged couples and I really want to go."

"You're engaged?" He asks, his eyebrows high on his forehead. "To who?"

"Well…" She falters, just for a moment, but he's looking at her with the same interest he'd shown so many months before and she remembers why she'd told him more than anyone else. "I was thinking… to you? Just for one day. A special occasion or something. I mean, it's not like we could do it more than once because most bakery's do actually charge for cake tasting and we can't keep showing up at the same place as though we're newly engaged, but it'd be nice to go. Just once."

He looks at her and Emma can't figure out what he's thinking. "I can't, Swan." He says eventually, when they've both finished eating and are spending a few last minutes together before she returns to her car and he goes back to only god knows where and they don't see each other for weeks. "I'm sorry. It's not… I think it would hurt too much."

She doesn't know what to say, but part of her thinks he might be right. (Even though she knows he's not really talking about her)

-.-.-.-

They stay close following their meeting at the kitchen and she feels like she _knows_ him now. Things have never gotten as personal as that one night, but she knows his likes, his dislikes and things he misses now that he can't afford anything. He knows the same about her, and it's comforting to know that there might be someone on Earth who actually cares for her.

That's probably why, when it starts getting dark, she decides she's reluctant to see him go.

And there's something about the privacy of the Bug compared to the streets, because soon he's telling her all about Milah (the woman _he_ proposed to and planned a wedding with before she revealed she was married to someone else) and she tells him about her son, the one she gave up in prison but has since named Henry (sort of after Harry Potter) because referring to her son as 'him' made her feel even lonelier than she already was.

She's never told anyone about Henry before, but she tells him and she feels much, much lighter when she does.

When she shows him the thin gold band that she keeps in her glove compartment, he brings up the cake-tasting thing except now she understands why he doesn't want to help. For her, it's a representation of something more. For him, it's just a painful memory of a past he wants to move on from.

That night, she kisses him. She leans across the gear stick and just pulls him to her, her lips resting firmly on his for only a moment before his hand comes up to cradle her head and keep her close and it's been so, so long since she's felt wanted by anybody that she almost cries.

She doesn't. At least not then. (She does later, when they're curled up together in the back seat, his coat spread over them and his arms around her as he sleeps)

-.-.-.-

After that, they're a team. He stays in the car every night and they survive together. It's like it was with Neal, only more, because, with Killian, she doesn't worry he's going to leave (he has nowhere to go) and she knows he isn't keeping anything from her.

They know each other completely and maybe it's not what she dreamed of as a little girl, but it is more than enough and she knows now that the cake-tasting was just a silly dream she had when she wanted more.

Sure, she still _wants_ things, but she's perfectly content to just be with him.

Besides, Killian believes in good form, so they're not stealing from convenience stores and sneaking into just evacuated motel rooms. They're _trying_. He starts trying to get paid for odd jobs - he walks dogs sometimes - and Emma discovers that, even though she doesn't have the credentials for it, shady people are willing to pay for someone to track people down and that she's pretty good at that.

Emma didn't think she could hope again, but Killian has proved her wrong.

-.-.-.-

On her birthday, she finds herself standing outside the bakery, her hand in Killian's and she has absolutely no idea what they're doing there.

"Why are we here?" She asks, her breath catching when he raises her hand to his mouth for a brief kiss and then lets go so he can reach into his pocket and show her her old engagement ring. "We're not-"

"For one day, remember?" He says and she'd let this dream go a long time ago, but now he's here and he's fumbling to slide the ring onto her finger and, sure, it's fake, but not all of it is. "A special occasion."

When they get inside the bakery, it's warm and it smells heavenly and they're _expected_ and Killian has planned all of it without her knowing and she just wants to grab him and kiss him, so she does. He sinks into her slightly, and she hears titters and aww's from the shop employees and she has never loved him more.

And Emma's a bit too thrown to answer the questions that the staff ask - about when and where they're getting married, but Killian's thought it all through. Apparently, they're marrying at the end of spring and they're having a beach wedding (and the beach he points too on the map they're given is not in Florida, and it's nowhere near Tallahassee but that's another dream she's moved on from).

He holds her hand the whole time, sometimes kisses it and the best part about the free cake-tasting is Emma doesn't have to pretend to be in love because she _is_.

The cakes are pretty good too though.

"Why did you do that for me?" she asks afterwards, when they've scrounged together enough money from their savings to rent a motel room for the night (it's her birthday, so they get to share a double bed instead of the backseat, and they take full advantage of that). "You knew I didn't need that anymore, right?"

"We don't have much, Emma." He says quietly, pressing a light kiss to her temple, his hand firm and warm against her hip. "But I wanted you to have that. For real."

"But I already have something real." She tells him and he smiles brilliantly. "I have you. I love you."

"I love you too, Emma." He replies and she kisses him again and he still tastes like cake. "I always will."

-.-.-.-

(She sells the engagement ring the next day. She doesn't get much money, but it's more than she thought she would. They rent a one-room flat and she gets a job at a diner for when she's not hunting people down and Killian keeps dog-walking and it's not much but she'd lost hope of having anything and now, with Killian, she finally feels like she's got everything she could ever want.)


	7. A Bit of Eavesdropping

**Prompt: After Emma is rescued from darkness she and Killian fall asleep on her parent's couch. Snow and David simply let them sleep and cover them**

* * *

 **A Bit of Eavesdropping**

Things have been strange since Emma had been consumed by the darkness.

David had spent one night distraught, wondering where she might have gone and what she might be like. He'd laid in bed with Snow, but neither of them had slept, splitting their time between caring for Neal and worrying about their daughter.

They had worried about Henry and Killian too. Killian had collapsed in the middle of the road after Emma vanished, and David had needed to lift him up and force him back to the loft. But only Killian had managed to tell Henry what had happened, and the two had seemed reluctant to part after that.

But the next morning, Emma had returned, entirely herself except for a slight anger simmering underneath all her words. Snow said she seemed to be her old self, with walls raised, but this time David knew it wasn't to protect herself but to protect others.

David had seen Killian try to talk to her, but Emma always shut him up before he could say the three words that David knew he desperately wanted Emma to hear.

It was Emma who insisted on finding Merlin, something they had all forgotten in the panic of losing her, because as much as she thought she could keep the darkness at bay, she wasn't sure how long she could keep that up.

And so they'd searched.

Merlin, when they _finally_ found him, had tried to explain why the darkness seemed to have made such little difference to Emma.

It couldn't change who someone was, but the power it provided was seductive and many were corrupted by it, and once they were, _then_ the darkness would take hold.

David and Snow had asked so many questions, wanting to be certain, but Killian had understood. He spoke of the Rumplestiltskin he knew long ago, the coward, and how he must have wanted the power that being the Dark One would give him. How Rumplestiltskin would have eagerly turned himself over to the darkness and _used_ it. After all, there was no need to be afraid of anything when he could defeat anything that threatened him.

The darkness had consumed Rumplestiltskin because he had let it. Emma was different.

Belle had tried to defend Rumplestiltskin, had tried to insist it was darkness that made him the man he was. Merlin had shaken his head and told her that, no, Rumplestiltskin had chosen how to use the darkness. The darkness hadn't used him.

Merlin had almost refused to draw the darkness out of Emma and destroy it. He thought she could cope with it because the absence of darkness within her, the one David and Snow had caused, meant that she could control the darkness. That it had been weeks and Emma was still herself was a good sign.

Emma had insisted otherwise. Emma had stood in front of them and begged Merlin to rip it from her because even though she could handle it now, she felt its power and at some point, everyone gave into temptation.

Merlin had raised his hand, and then Emma had screamed, her body shaking and her eyes white. Killian had rushed to her side and held her even as Emma writhed in pain, and David had pulled Snow into his arms and hidden her face because Emma's agony was too hard for her to watch.

Now, though, it's like they're trying to act like everything is normal. Henry goes to school each morning on the school bus, one of his mother's walking him there. David works at the station, sometimes with Emma but mostly alone.

Emma doesn't sleep and she's quieter and _that's_ what's changed. _Emma's_ changed. More than she had when the darkness was inside her.

But no matter how often David or Snow ask, Emma insists she's fine. That _everything's_ fine. (David know it's not, and part of him wonders if she would have told them the truth if they hadn't made such a stupid mistake all those decades ago)

-.-.-.-

They watch a film one night - Henry requests Harry Potter, and David knows it's yet another attempt to cheer up his mother. Killian is there, he's always there, and David hands him a beer and then spends more time watching the pirate hold his daughter instead of watching the film.

(There was some magic and some man with two faces and a troll that looked nothing like the one's he and Snow had faced on the Troll Bridge, but David didn't really follow the rest)

Emma falls asleep when Harry and his friend Malfoy are wandering through some sort of forest, her face tucked against Killian's shoulder.

Henry mutters something about how Emma would never fall asleep in Harry Potter before and soon retreats upstairs to sleep himself, a despondent air about him that David hopes will be gone one day soon.

After feeding Neal, even David and Snow decide it's time to go to bed, leaving Emma and her boyfriend tangled together on the sofa (although David does impart a quick warning that it's only curtains separating their room from the main area of the loft, which receives a raised eyebrow from Killian and things feel normal for a second)

When David exits his room for just a moment to get a glass of water, he pauses when he hears Killian's voice.

"The darkness leaving… it hurt her more than she's willing to admit." Killian mutters, and David thinks, more bitterly than he should, that she's clearly admitted it to Killian. "She needs time, but she will recover."

Killian presses a kiss to Emma's forehead, and David has to smile when Emma nuzzles closer, even in sleep.

Before he gets his water, David creeps upstairs, determined not to wake Henry, and brings down Emma's duvet and wraps it around her and Killian.

"You don't need to tuck me in, mate." Killian tells him quietly, half-heartedly, and even though the blanket is perfectly in place, David watches as Killian fusses over Emma for just a bit longer. David lets out an obligatory chuckle - he's still pretending things are normal - and finally joins Snow in bed.

He wakes a few hours later when he hears a soft murmuring - Emma's awake again and she's talking to Killian and David knows he should listen but he just wants to hear, from Emma's lips, that everything _is_ going to be alright.

"I didn't think I could sleep for so long." Emma whispers. "But I'm not surprised."

"You're not?"

"I thought maybe I'd be able to sleep better with you here."

David wants to grumble slightly, because as happy as he is that his daughter and Killian have found one another, he doesn't need to hear any details, but if he makes a sound, they'll know he's awake and he hates that idea more.

"You're always welcome on the Jolly Roger, love."

"I have to be here, Killian." Emma sounds like she's on the verge of tears, but Killian's already murmuring something inaudible but presumably soothing. "When I wake up, I need to know they're all okay. Henry, Mom, Dad and Neal. And you. I need you here too."

There's a silence and David wonders if they're kissing. They're probably kissing.

"How are you right now?" Killian asks after a while. "Do you feel like yourself?"

And Killian clearly knows more than either of them have let on, because although David was aware Emma wasn't sleeping, he didn't know about the nightmares and he _didn't_ know Emma wasn't feeling right.

"Right now? I'm feeling good." Emma admits. "Better, even."

Another silence.

"Emma?" Killian sounds strangely hesitant, and David suddenly feels like this moment is definitely not for ears. (Not that it was before, but this feels even more intimate and personal) "Can I tell you now? Do you feel enough like yourself for you to let me?"

And David isn't in the room, but the silence feels heavier this time. He doesn't know what Killian wants to say, what Emma hasn't _let_ him say since she lost the darkness (and apparently lost herself) but he has an idea.

"Yes." Emma finally says, so quiet that David almost can't hear it. (He wishes he couldn't hear it. This isn't for him to be listening to.)

"I love you." Killian's voice cracks partway through the declaration, and he sounds so earnest and desperate and David thinks, in a moment of horrible realisation, that he's pretty certain he's listening to her daughter and _Captain Hook_ declare their love to one another for the first time. "I have for so long. I always will."

Emma makes a strange noise - is she crying? David thinks she might be crying and hearing that _hurts_.

"I love you too." Emma replies. "Truly."

And this time, they are _definitely_ kissing. David's happy - so happy - for both of them, but this is the last thing he wants to hear, so he buries his head under his pillow and hopes it will be over soon.

When he can't breathe, he withdraws from under the pillow and sighs in relief when he realises the kissing has stopped.

"Do you think you can sleep for the rest of the night?" Killian asks.

"I think so." Emma mumbles, and David never thought he'd be grateful that Captain Hook had become a large part of their lives, but right now, with Emma sounding so trusting and open, he really, _really_ is. "Maybe if you hold me closer?"

Killian laughs. "That sounds like it's worth a try."

There's a soft, content sigh and then the whole loft falls into silence again. Although it soon sounds like Emma and Killian have fallen easily back into sleep, David is too preoccupied for slumber.

Killian had been right before. Emma was going to need time. But for the first time since they got back, David finally feels like everything _will_ be okay.

"I'm so glad she has him." David turns at the sound of his wife's voice, his eyes widening at the sheepish smile she has across her face and he knows, then, that she's eavesdropped as much as he has, and she looks touched by the scene they weren't meant to hear. "Now we just have to wait until she's ready to have us too."

"Soon, Snow." David mutters back, stretching his arm out so she can curl against his chest. "I think that's going to be soon."


End file.
